Box Score



Kutztown 5, Mercyhurst 4 (HTML Box Score)
 
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Senior Jamie Koenig (Springtown, PA/Palisades) notched her first career hat-trick including the game-winning goal to help lift the Kutztown University field hockey team to a 5-4 road victory against 10th-ranked Mercyhurst University on Saturday morning in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup at Tullio Field.
 
Trailing 4-3 with less than 15 minutes to play, the Golden Bears (5-4, 2-1 PSAC) scored the game-tying and game-winning goals within 54 seconds of each other. With Kutztown threatening on an ensuing penalty corner, Erin Danner (Marysville, PA/Susquenita) controlled a loose ball in front of the Mercyhurst cage and scored at the 56:51 mark. 54 seconds later, Anna Behm (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) passed to Koenig, who beat the keeper and scored for her third goal of the afternoon.
 
Kutztown held on down the stretch as the Lakers (4-5, 0-2) fired four shots in the final 12 minutes. KU goalkeeper Kayla Denlinger (Manheim, Pa./Hempfield) protected the line and helped lead Kutztown to a win over the 10th-ranked team in Division II, and its second PSAC win of the season.
 
The Golden Bears had to overcome a two-goal deficit for the win. Mercyhurst carried all of the momentum in the opening minutes with a goal just 3:05 into the game, and another in the 23rd minute to hold a commanding 2-0 lead. Kutztown never gave up and tallied two goals late in the first half to even the score at 2-2.
 
The win comes on a special day for first-year Golden Bear head coach Marci Scheuing. Not only did she celebrate her team's victory on Saturday, she also celebrated her birthday.
 
"After we were behind 2-0, we turned into a totally different team than how we played in the first half," Scheuing said. "We came together and played hard all the way to the final whistle. They were relentless and never gave up."
 
Behm assisted Koenig on all three of her goals. For Behm, she has adjusted from an early-season injury and has returned to her All-PSAC form. For Koenig, it was a breakout game for the senior as she picked the perfect time to have a strong offensive outing.
 
"Jamie was a difference maker for us today," Scheuing said. "She hadn't scored yet this season and was starting to get a bit frustrated, but she was one of the significant reasons as to why we were able to pull out the win today. Jamie and Anna have played phenomenal on the front line together this season."
 
Senior Erin Reynolds (York, PA/Central York) scored off a penalty stroke late in the first half for her team-leading seventh goal of the season. She has converted on all three of her stroke attempts.
 
In goal, Denlinger made seven saves including her crucial two in the final minutes. Saturday was a rematch from an earlier game this season between the two programs at University Field when Mercyhurst earned a 4-1 win in a driving rain. Kutztown took the temporary setback and made adjustments from the non-conference game, and turned it into a win against the Lakers in Saturday's conference matchup.
 
"We spent the entire week working on our fitness level, and it showed today," Scheuing said. "Our fitness was not at a high level the first time we played Mercyhurst and that is the main reason to why we lost the first meeting. Our fitness was never an issue today and the kids played extremely hard all the way through the game."
 
Kutztown has the middle of the week off from competition as it travels to Bloomsburg on Saturday, Oct. 12 for a PSAC game at 1 p.m. KU fell to Bloomsburg at home earlier in the season.